By Calvin Roberts
“There are no ifs and buts about it, unless embattled president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Colin Klass resigns, football in Guyana will remain stagnant,” says former national coach Mervyn ‘Pug’ Wilson.
And Wilson would like to see the football associations in Guyana support the call by the Golden Jaguars, who are calling for the suspension of football in the country until Klass walks the plank.
“I strongly support the call by the Golden Jaguars to football associations to boycott football in the country until Klass resigns. In fact, the associations that are associated to the GFF and run their competitions under the auspices of the GFF should suspend same also.”
The 56-year-old Wilson who was four times a national coach, is questioning the achievements of Klass as head of the football fraternity in Guyana.
“He (Klass) has been to three World Cup finals, along with nine Gold Cup finals and apparently he has not learnt a thing or two on proper football administration. For me, I think those trips were more recreational to him than operational, as he has not returned with any knowledge on proper administration of football.”
Wilson continued: “When I was on a training course in Germany, they taught us that the development of football begins at home, in your own backyard. The Germans do their own development, so too do the French and Italians. What has the GFF under the administrative rule of Klass done for the development of the game here?”
“Coaches have suffered under his administration, whilst talented players turn their backs on the game. You need to have inter sub-association tournaments run off, which would give you the coach the perfect opportunity to have a look at players who have potential. But there have been no inter sub-association football for years.”
“Therefore, players are called haphazardly to train at times, two or three weeks prior to an engagement and when the team fails to deliver, the coach is given the axe by the GFF. But they are the ones to blame, as they have schedules to work with and always perform last minute acts and expect the coaches to deliver miracles,” said Wilson.
White collar …
Wilson further stated that the time for “white collar… was over, which would mean that those who have the knowledge, should take control.
“We don’t need the white collar … at the top any longer. We have individuals who were past footballers and possess the knowledge to administrate. Take a look at the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) which is being run under the guidance of Troy Mendonca who himself is a past footballer.”
“They have a structured programme in place from Under-11 right through to Premier League and recently they have launched an Under-21 competition. Mendonca and his team are doing an excellent job, especially when it comes to the development of the game in Georgetown and Klass should have taken a leaf out of his book earlier.”
When asked to list his possible replacements for Klass, Wilson listed Mendonca, Terrence Archer, Upper Demerara Football Associa-tion (UDFA) president Bryan Joseph, and Leonard Williams along with himself as possible candidates whom he feels can deliver to the Guyanese football public.
“All of us have knowledge of the game whether it is as a player or coach, and we cam certainly bring to the table the missing ingredients that Klass and company have left out. For 20 years they are there and up to a day like today, there is no development programme to show.”
Wilson, the present coach of B.K. International Western Tigers, feels that the GFF should have utilized the services of local coaches more, instead of paying millions of dollars to a foreign coach.
“What do they have that we the local coaches don’t have? They would come to the table with their certificates and development plans, but apart from the certificates, we would be having the ideal developmental plans in shape for the GFF, but they would refuse us because we don’t have the certificates.”
“But then they need to ask themselves, who would better understand the players and work along with them, combining both the players talent and the coaches know how to get results, than the local based coaches?”
Wilson also took the time to question the GFF’s expenditure of FIFA Goal Project fund, where they receive over US$250,000 annually for the development of football in Guyana.
“Where has the money gone over the years, what has Klass and his executives done to show that the money they have received from FIFA is being spent on the development of football locally? There is no answer to that question, as there have been no developmental plans implemented and executed by the GFF for a number of years now.”
Wilson closed by saying that the GFF did not step forward the way they ought to under the stewardship of Klass, but took several steps backwards and in order for the game of football to move forward, the voices of the Golden Jaguars must be heard, not only for their sake, but for the other young cubs who will one day blossom into Golden Jaguars.
